


Out Of Time, Out Of Mind

by nanabongie



Series: Calling Me Home [1]
Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Birdflash - Freeform, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pining across dimensions, Pre-Slash, Wally West is Alive, Wally West is The Flash, hes the major character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:15:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27128438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanabongie/pseuds/nanabongie
Summary: The last thing Wally remembers is running with Barry and Bart in the Arctic. Then he ends up in a city called Jump and on a world where so many of his friends don’t exist.He makes do.
Relationships: Artemis Crock/Wally West, Dick Grayson/Wally West
Series: Calling Me Home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999984
Comments: 24
Kudos: 267





	1. Painless

**Author's Note:**

> Just me being in denial over the fact that Wally is dead in Young Justice because he is NOT dead, I will not believe it!
> 
> Anyways enjoy this fanfic if you’re reading.

Wally couldn’t stop running.

And he didn’t mind. Because for once in a very long time his running was painless. It was like his first run after leaving the hospital all over again, the rush of wind slapping his face and permanently giving him messy hair, the soles of his feet skimming the ground for split seconds, and the lightning... dear god the lightning that thrummed through his veins all the way to his fingertips.

He loved it. He had missed it.

Gone was the pain that had plagued him since he was sixteen, instead there was nothing but Wally and the ground underneath his quick moving feet.

And then suddenly there wasn’t.

Buildings came into view and Wally stopped to think about why he was running.

_ The Arctic. Chrysalis. The Reach. Not fast enough. _

Wally came to an unprofessional stop that was reminiscent of when he had first gotten his speed as he let the memories come back to him, he rolled ungracefully into an alley.

He was supposed to be dead. The energy had siphoned onto him because he was too slow. Always too slow. Too slow to find a cure. Too slow to save the world. 

But clearly he was still alive. He stood up with a groan and pulled off his cowl. Luckily the suit had no damage from his crash landing and even more luckily no one was around to see his graceless fall.

Now onto the next question. How the hell did he get from the Arctic to some random city.

He frowned as he took in the city, he was no Bat but he could pick up a few clues and he definitely knew that it was June, which is why the fact that it was snowing made no sense.

The architecture around him showed that he was in North America, and no where besides the poles should it be snowing like this..

_ First I get clothes, then I get answers. _

—

Wally wasn’t proud that he had to use his powers to steal but desperate times called for desperate measures. He was also still getting used to his regained mobility, the fact that he could feel his left hand for the first time in two years had made him tear up a little bit.

He had stopped at a public library in the city, which he had learned was called Jump City — Wally wasn’t the greatest at Geography but he could’ve sworn there was no placed called Jump in the United States — and had dialled Dick after asking the lady at the front desk if he could use their phone.

Him and Dick were still at odds, something that Wally regrets ever letting happen now that he thought about it, but he knew that his friend wouldn’t leave him hanging.

What he didn’t expect was for someone to pick up the other line and start shouting at him in rapid Spanish. His Spanish as a second language classes had not helped him at all, so he had simply ended the call with a sigh. 

He knew he and Dick had been drifting but the younger man wouldn’t have changed his number without telling Wally... right?

He tried Artemis’ number next. He got a message to leave a voicemail from a middle aged Frenchman.

He tried Barry next. No answer.

Iris. The number didn’t exist.

Conner. M’gann. Roy. Kaldur. (Though he hadn’t been expecting much from the last two).

Wally smiles apologetically to the lady at the front desk and then went to go find a computer because something was definitely wrong.

He let the backpack that was holding his Kid Flash gear fall to the ground next to the swivel chair he sat down on and silently thanked Barbara and Dick in his head for drilling him with the basics of hacking.

It didn’t take much effort for him to get into the library computer and to start doing some real A class detective work, Bats would be proud of him and his Googling skills.

After a few searches he could discern the fact that wherever he was, it wasn’t home. Superheroes still existed much to his relief but there was quite a few famous faces missing from the rosters.

Clark was just as famous here as he was back on Wally’s world. One thing that concerned him though was the fact that most mentions of Superheroes were heroes from the JSA. The only mention of the Flash was Jay Garrick, Wally couldn’t find a single picture of his uncle’s familiar red and gold blur.

Batman was still a myth on this world, but Bruce Wayne existed, which was proof enough to Wally. His frowned deepened when he searched up Green Lantern and was only met with the faces of John Stewart and Alan Scott.

Hal was the worlds most famous Green Lantern so for there to be a reality where he wasn’t... it didn’t sit right with Wally.

When he searched up Hal Jordan he was met with articles upon articles.

**_ FERRIS AIR PILOT DIES IN CRASH. _ **

Wally’s breath hitched. Hal was practically an uncle to him, he had grown up having him and his more often than not flawed guidance around. He conducted similar searches for other people and things he knew, and when he was met with practically nothing he shut the computer off with a stifled groan.

It didn’t take a genius or a boy wonder to detect that something was seriously wrong.

_ Is this some kind of different timeline? _ Wally wondered as he picked up his bag and then walked out of the library.

Wally knew that he couldn’t figure this out by himself. He was a stranger in a different time or maybe even on a different world — the multiverse theory? Wally couldn’t rule out the possibility —, and he knew that there was no way he was going to figure this out by himself. And there was only one man he trusted enough to help him.

So Wally did what he did best. He ran. 


	2. Electric

It took him four minutes to get from Jump to Keystone. A trip that would’ve normally taken him an hour and a half at top speed took him four minutes. He could hardly believe it once he had passed Keystone’s city limits.

He remembered the mission he had on his sixteenth birthday to deliver Perdita’s heart from Boston to Seattle and how the four hours he had had seemed impossible to overcome. Now he could run from California to Missouri in four minutes when he wasn’t even pushing himself. Wally didn’t know whether to be scared or excited. He was definitely leaning more towards the former.

He ran through the streets of Keystone before stopping at the neighbourhood next to the Garrick’s.

He used his super speed to change out of his Kid Flash costume and back into the clothes he had ‘borrowed’ before walking at a normal pace to a house that he hoped belonged to the Garrick’s in this reality. If he knocked and it wasn’t Jay or Joan he could just say that he had gotten the wrong address. 

He had debated over whether he should go to Bruce’s or to the Garrick’s. He knew for a certainty that Bruce and Batman existed and that he resided in Wayne manor so finding him would be easier, but he would much rather deal with Joan’s kind smiles and Jay’s hearty laughs than Bruce’s paranoia. And if anything went wrong at least he could guarantee that Jay wouldn’t ship him off to Arkham.

Wally sighed before knocking at the familiar door. The house looked relatively the same, which made Wally have conflicted feelings that he didn’t dig deeper into.

_Please be the Garricks_ ,  he thought desperately.

The feelings he had multiplied when Joan Garrick’s face greeted him.

“Hello there young man, how may I help you?” She asked with a pleasant smile. Wally swallowed the lump in his throat before replying.

“Uh hello Ma’am, I’m here to see your husband Mr. Garrick about something important.”

Joan’s smile didn’t falter once, instead she let out a harsh bark of laughter, Wally had always been amazed at how her voice and features were so soft but her laughter was so loud and boisterous, “Sure hope the old man didn’t get into any trouble. He’s upstairs right now, why don’t you take a seat in the sitting room while I go get him for you.”

Wally let out a weak laugh and smiled at her gratefully. Well he hoped it looked like a smile and not a grimace, he had never been the best at controlling his expressions.

He followed Joan as she led him to the sitting room — even though Wally knew where it was, but a random stranger isn’t supposed to know where the Garrick’s keep their cookie jars and how many pipes have burst in their house in the last year — and sat down awkwardly as she left to go find her husband.

Wally wished he had more time to gather his thoughts and to think about what he would say to Jay to explain what he was doing here but even with all the time in the world how was one supposed to explain that they were marooned on a different world.

Wally could feel it the exact moment Jay stepped into the room. The incessant thrum that had been pounding under the surface of his skin increased by tenfold, small sparks rippling through his veins. He could feel the electricity, not his own yellow lightning, but Jay’s. He could feel it thrumming through his veins like it was his own speed. He had never experience a sensation quite like it.

“Wally was it?” Jay asked as he stepped into Wally’s view. He took a calming breath to distract himself from the amount of electricity he could feel in the room, trying to worm its way up to the surface. 

“Yes uh sir, Wally West,” he said, mentally slapping his palm across his head because Jay had literally just said his name.

“No need for all that ‘sir’ nonsense, just call me Jay,” the older man said with one of those booming laughs of his. It immediately calmed Wally’s nerves.

“Now if you don’t mind me asking son, what can I do for you?” 

Wally sighed before saying, “Jay, have you ever heard about the theory of the multiverse?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Debated whether or not Wally should go visit Bruce or Jay first but decided on Jay because I could think of no plausible way of making a Batman who hasn’t had any experience with Flashes or alternate universes yet believe what Wally has to say tbh, or I guess I do have a way but I’m too lazy to type it all out and I think the story flows better with him talking to Jay instead.
> 
> These first few chapters have been short but don’t worry they’ll get longer. Thank you for all the positive comments and please leave constructive criticisms if you want to!


	3. Run

“So let me get this straight, you’re from an alternate reality, one where you’re another version of the Flash’s ex-sidekick and where you go by Kid Flash,” Jay said slowly, looking at Wally in disbelief.

Wally tried not to bristle at the word sidekick.

“Yes, I believe that somehow the energy I siphoned off of the Magnetic Field Disruptor propelled be through the barriers of our worlds I guess, at first I thought I was in an altered timeline but whole countries and cities that shouldn’t exist and even geographical forms are different,” Wally said, hoping he didn’t sound as desperate as he felt.

Jay said nothing for a moment, “The multiverse... when I brought it up to Stein he had all these theories, I thought he was crazy, which he is mind you, but I also remember the story of what happened to Wally West like it was yesterday, died after being struck by lightning, and you young man have an uncanny resemblance with that boy.”

“My counterpart died after being struck by lightning? That’s how I became- wait you believe me?!” Wally asked in surprise.

“Kid, you hang around a Gotham native who calls himself Green Lantern for a few years and you’re just about ready to believe anything,” Jay said with a small chuckle, “And plus, I’m a scientist, it’d be foolhardy of me to disregard a theory like this one.”

“That’s... crash, so, so crash,” Wally said, leaning back with a relieved sigh.

“Is that something the kids are saying these days or a saying from your world,” Jay asked with a small confused frown.

“Just some slang from an alien race that tried to conquer the world, I’m pretty sure we stopped them,” Wally said, his smile turning into a frown as he thought back to his own earth. What had happened after he had disappeared? 

“Sounds like you’ve got a few stories yourself son,” Jay said with a fond shake of his head. Wally knew that it wasn’t his Jay Garrick but he couldn’t help but feel comforted by the man’s presence, “So if you’re stuck on this world what are you going to do?”

What was he going to do? He had no way of getting back home, hell up until this point the multiverse and the idea of alternate earths had been a theory so far fetched it was considered a myth.

And yet here he was, stranded on another earth.

“I don’t know,” Wally said plainly. Because he had absolutely no clue what he should do.

“Well son, is speedsters always think better on a full stomach, so how about you join me and Joan for dinner while we hash something out,” Jay offered.

Wally definitely couldn’t say no to that, the most food he had eaten since he arrived was a small box of protein bars he had liberated from a store.

“That sounds really nice, thank you,” Wally said with a grateful smile, “Still really surprised you’re taking this all so well.”

“Kid, if you’ve heard half of the stories I have about the JSA then you’d realize that meeting someone from another earth is a regular Tuesday for me,” Jay said with another one of his hearty laughs.

Wally’s smile widened. Jay was an astounding scientist and with him on his side then maybe he would be able to find a way back home.

—

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen that speedster metabolism in full effect,” Joan said after Wally finished his third plate of mashed potatoes.

Wally blushed, “Uh sorry, probably not the most guest-like thing to do.”

Joan waved him off, a small smile on her face, “Don’t worry about it, it’s nice to see someone enjoy my cooking for once.”

“Joan, honey,” Jay said with a groan, “I love your cooking.”

“You sure do act like it,” Joan said with a withering glare in his direction.

Wally smiled at their interaction, for the first time since he had come here he actually felt at home. Which was scary in a way. But if it were truly home then a dinner at the Garricks would be filled with Bart’s endless chatter and Lois and Joan recounting their husbands most embarrassing tales as the Flash much to both Jay and Barry’s distaste. Being with the Garricks though, Wally could almost imagine that everything was okay.

“Wally we’d love if you’d stay here for the night, until you get a few things figured out.” Wally hadn’t realized his thoughts had wandered off until Jay had said his name, and he took a few moments to register his words.

“I really wouldn’t want to impose,” Wally said, ignoring the voice in his head that sounded like Dick teasing him for his ‘proper’ language.

“Nonsense darling, we have a spare bedroom here and you have no place to go,” Joan told him with a gentle smile, “It would be cruel of us to send you on your way knowing what we know.”

Wally took in their warm expressions and relented, “Okay but just for one night.”

—

It was for more than one night. The next day Jay had called in a favour with an old friend of his in STAR labs and had run a bunch of tests on Wally, they had spent almost the entire day there, theorizing ways that they could send him back home.

By the time they went back to the Garricks Joan had once again insisted that he stayed the night.

The day after that they had taken him out shopping for necessities despite Wally’s arguments and then he and Jay had gone back to STAR labs to run even more tests.

Then when Jay had suggested that he stayed with them for the ‘time-being’ so that he could observe him closely Wally didn’t have anything left in him to argue.

The Garricks were very stubborn people.

—

“Was that your costume?” Joan asked one day when the snow outside kept them boarded up in the house. Wally nodded, tracing the tears in the Kid Flash suit with his fingers.

A big part of why he had convinced Artemis — something that he had come to regret, Wally could see just how much she loved the hero life, how much it pained her to stay away — to leave the team was because of what his powers were doing to him. He knew it was selfish but he wanted to spend whatever years he had left with someone he loved.

Too bad he lost another person he loved due to his decision. Dick knew that Wally had been lying when he said that the death of Tula was what pushed Wally to hang up the Kid Flash suit. They’d been desensitized to each other’s bullshit for years, and a large part of what drove a wedge between them was that Wally had refused to tell him what was actually going on. Well how did someone tell their best friend that they were dying?

The only people who had known were the small team of researchers at STAR labs where he had done his internship, half of the time he was there he was doing actual work and the other half he was being prodded at and given a death sentence.

But now he could run again without feeling his limbs were on fire and every nerve was being impaled by a needle. Without the threat of death looming over him what was to stop him from being a hero again?

“I don’t know what to do,” Wally said softly after a few moments of silence. He didn’t know whether he was talking about his role as Kid Flash or his entire situation of being marooned on another earth.

“Well I know there’s one thing you speedsters do best, you get back up and you keep running,” Joan said, clasping a gentle but solid hand on his shoulder.

“I’m not that good at running anymore,” Wally admitted with a wet laugh, when had he started crying?

“Hence the getting back up part,” Joan said with a wry smile, “When you trip, you stand up again, and you keep running.”

“Okay,” Wally said finally, placing the Kid Flash suit on the coffee table in front of him, “I’ll keep running.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> now the real story begins


	4. Regrets

Wally didn’t know what pushed him to start creating a new suit, one so eerily similar to his uncles, but by the time it was done he felt equal parts excited and equals part wanting to hurl.

It had been two months since he had arrived on this earth and he liked to think he was doing okay. Him and Jay still went to STAR labs on the off day to conduct more research but a lot of the testing was done by Wally himself, he had notebook upon notebook filled in his room at the Garricks about the multiverse and its mechanics. Joan had also linked him up with a auto shop that didn’t require any paperwork to work there, sure it was a little sketchy and Wally wondered how Joan knew about it but it allowed him to pay his keep even though the Garricks insisted that it was no trouble.

As each day passed Wally was feeling less and less hopeful about finding a way back home. He had also begun testing the true limits of his speed, and boy was he fast. Faster than Jay and maybe even faster than his uncle. When pushing himself he could run from coast to coast in under a minute, it was slightly terrifying. 

Despite all that he hadn’t donned his former Kid Flash suit. He had hung up the suit so far back in the closet back home that it felt wrong to bring it out again, especially since he had passed on the moniker to Bart before he had catapulted into this earth.

Wally wasn’t a kid anymore, and despite him being on another earth Kid Flash wasn’t his anymore, he had passed it on.

The Flash wasn’t his either so he didn’t know why when he started creating a suit it took the form of the Flash’s.

In the end he didn’t think too deeply about it because on the day Captain Cold decided to make his debut the second Flash made his.

He had an advantage fighting Len, he knew how the man worked and how he fought. This was also a disadvantage because he kept expecting this Leonard Snart to be the exact same as he was on Wally’s earth.

In the end he still got him albeit with a few more bruises than he was used to. And when social media started calling him the Flash and Jay gave him a proud smile he decided that it felt right.

It also felt so wrong too.

—

Wally still ended up meeting Batman. For all his debating over whether to go see Jay or Bruce months before he hadn’t made an effort to find the billionaire after he had made himself comfortable with the Garricks.

It had been a month since he had made his debut on this earth as the Flash and really he should have expected the man to find him.

So when he went to work early one morning to open up the garage he tried not to shiver at the suspiciously bat shaped shadow in the corner of the room. 

“I know you’re there,” Wally said, he knew that if Bruce wanted to stay hidden, he could. 

“Wallace West,” Bruce greeted as he stepped out of the darkness. A familiar rasp in his voice that Wally didn’t think he would miss hearing. The lenses of the cowl were narrowed and it was a lot harder to be on the receiving end of the batglare without Dick beside him laughing.

“Bruce Wayne,” Wally countered. Probably not the smartest move to pull with Batman but Wally never was known for his common sense.

With a swiftness that would put speedsters to shame Batman crossed the threshold of the garage and loomed over Wally.

Wally steeled himself for the shakedown that crooks in Gotham received but instead Bruce just looked at him with a narrowed gaze. Now Wally wasn’t a Robin but he liked to think that he had gotten good at reading the man over the years and he was 78.6% sure that this type of glare was one of curiosity.

“You’re not from here,” Bruce said after looming over Wally for what felt like minutes.

“Would ask how you figured it out but world’s best detective and all that,” Wally said with a small shrug.

“When the news first starting reporting that there was a new Flash I made a file in you, imagine my surprise when a blood sample I took matched up with a deceased Wallace West, died after being struck by lightning.” Wally nodded contemplatively, not even surprised that Bruce had somehow managed to get a drop of his blood. Jay had told him about his counterpart at their first meeting, the scientist having taken a special interest in the story due to its peculiar circumstances.

“I’m not that Wally,” Wally said finally, knowing there was no use in trying to lie about it.

“I figured as much, you’ve been working with the first Flash at STAR Labs and doing research about the multiverse, you aren’t from this earth.” From anyone else it would sound like a question, but from the goddamn Batman it’s a simple statement.

“No, I’m not,” Wally confirmed.

Bruce let out a grunt. After years of working under the league with the team Wally wished he could say that he had learned how to decipher the Batman’s form of nonverbal communication but he was just as lost as he was when he was a kid.

“I’ll be in touch,” Bruce said, and then the dim lightbulb that illuminated the shop went out. It flickered back to life a moment later, when it did Batman was gone.

“Can’t believe I missed that,” Wally said with a small smile. Shaking his head fondly before starting his work.

—

When he returned home — Wally stopped to wonder when the house stopped be the Garricks and started being home — and went up to his room everything was untouched, but sitting on the desk was a pile of enveloppes and papers.

His eyes widened as he went through the papers. 

Paperwork, passports, social security,  an identity.

And underneath the large pile was a small communication device stuck to a sticky note that said, ‘Emergencies Only.’

“Thanks bats,” Wally said with a large smile.

—

After his first meeting with the bat, Wally found himself dreaming more and more about Dick.

Wally also found himself regretting more and more how his and Dick’s relationship had fallen off. Because despite all the research and new revelations he had about the multiverse Wally still had no way to go home, meaning he had no way to fix things.

On the other hand he had a lot of time to think of the most perfect apology, he supposed he should apologize to Kaldur to, he didn’t deserve to be doubted the way Wally had doubted him. Sometimes everyone else on the team forgot that Kaldur was a person too though, and if Wally had been put through the wringer like his friend had in the past few years he didn’t think becoming an actual villain was too far off.

He didn’t know if that made Kaldur an incredibly strong person or Wally an incredibly weak one. Probably both.

Wally had a lot of regrets, and as each day passed he didn’t know if he’d be able to go back and correct them.

—

“You’re a lot less broodier here,” Wally said, leaning against the batcomputer’s, or as the computer as this Bruce called it, console.

Bruce glared at him, Wally was glad to say that he was somewhat immune.

“Do you have any idea why Freeze and Cold would work together?” Bruce asked as his fingers danced across the keys, probably typing up a report or something equally ridiculously productive.

“Well Fries has some insane cryotech technology, the specs for his cryofreeze chamber alone is revolutionary not to mention his suit in itself’s thermo-“

“Flash-“ Bruce cut him off in the same tone the man would oftentimes use whenever Flash and Kid Flash had to help out Batman and Robin, mostly it was the other way around. Wally really missed Barry too.

Wally shot the man a sheepish smile, “Well I think Len wants whatever tech Freeze can offer him and Freeze needs someone who’ll do his dirty work for him by robbing the banks, so they both benefit. Or at least they both would’ve benefited if Cold didn’t try and take the money for himself and the tech.”

Bruce grunted. Wally still couldn’t read them.

“You gave Captain Cold a nickname.”

“Come on, Snart isn’t that bad, he’s fun at Karaoke Nights at Jitters and he makes sure that Trickster takes his meds, he’s a pretty swell guy when he’s not trying to give me frostbite.”

Bruce just looked at him disapprovingly, but Wally could see the small twitch of his lips.

A smile! Out of Batman! If the whole Fate thing hadn’t happen that in itself would’ve been enough to make him believe in magic.

“So do you need my help to catch Cold or did you just want the intel?“

“No metas in Gotham.”

“I’m literally in the Batcave right now.”

“And for the love of God stop calling it that.” 


	5. Home

Wally didn’t know when he had become complacent in his quest to find a way home.

Maybe it was sometime between moving out of the Garricks because of his newly found job at the Department of Metahuman Hostilities in the forensics department — probably not his brightest idea to apply for a government job with forged papers but Wally wasn’t known for his common sense anyway, plus the papers had held up — and stopping a hostile alien invasion with six other heroes and forming a Justice League with the heroes that he had grown up looking up to in his own world.

Jay had picked up on his reluctance to try anymore tests and to try and find more ways to go back. Wally didn’t know how to tell him that he was alright with staying now, that even though he missed everyone back on his own earth so much that it hurt like a phantom pain that he couldn’t quite get rid off, always itching underneath his skin, that he was okay with what had happened to him.

He had the Justice League now, and he could still hardly believe that he was a founding member of the League, he also had found friendships in a few people, most notably Linda Park and Hunter Zolomon — and it was nice to not have to compare them to their counterparts on his earth because he didn’t know them on his earth — and had found a family in this earth’s Jay and Joan Garrick. 

So yeah maybe he had become complacent, but he had also found happiness on this earth. An earth in which he could run, run like he always wished he could, with the lightning propelling him forward instead of holding him back. 

It had been over a year since he had washed up on this world and he still wasn’t quite used to the pain that never appeared when he would run, to the way he could feel all of his limbs when he woke up in the morning, to not having his day interrupted by unexplained seizures.

If only the scientists he worked with at STAR Labs on his condition back on his earth could see him now.

So of course when Wally finally starts to find his footing in the world that he wouldn’t mind calling home, even if it wasn’t by choice, everything goes to shit. 

And like a lot of things in Wally’s life as a superhero, it all started with Lex Luthor.

\--

Wally had seen a lot of nasty things in his life. Like Desmond literally shedding his skin so that he could take on the form of Blockbuster or the fact that the Brain was quite literally just a brain in a machine, but somehow tentacles making their way out of Luthor’s body was worse than anything he’d seen. It reminded him of the time Conner had wanted him to show him what hentai was after someone at his school made a joke about it. As much as he loved Supey, it definitely wasn’t a memory he cherished.

Braniac was awful to deal with on his own, but merged with Lex Luthor? A total thing of nightmares. And it wasn’t looking too good for the Justice League either. The rest of the team were all in various wounded positions and scattered around, and Wally could feel his body aching and if not for the two soldiers Luthor-Braniac had conjured up he would’ve definitely fallen to his knees.

“Look around you. The Justice League is completely defeated, and so are you. For all your efforts you have but inconvenience me speck, but I’m still just human enough to enjoy taking my revenge.”

Wally was glad to know that despite Luthor’s new mutualistic relationship with Braniac that he still loved monologuing. Wally knew that no matter what world he had ended up on Lex Luthor would still be a pain in the ass.

“Looks like the Question was right all along, I kill you and then Armageddon. Right on schedule,” Luthor-Braniac said with a self-satisfied smirk, pointing his blaster right at Wally’s face.

And like hell Wally was going to let that happen.

“No,” Wally protested weakly. He let the electricity run out from his body, making the two soldiers disappear.

“Are you going to fight me boy?”

Wally stared the villain down for a split and then made up his mind. He knew that he wouldn’t win in an all out battle, so he did what speedsters do best, he ran. He didn’t focus on how fast he was going, just let the electricity thrum through his body and the wind whip past his face. He kept running until he ended up right back where he started, because it was a fact that no matter how far west you went, you’d eventually end up east.

He punched Luthor-Braniac, and then ran again, and again, and again. Past the Sahara, past the Alps, past rainforests and snowy tundras, he didn’t stop. He lost track of how many times he went around the globe, but he knew that when he stopped that it was over. Because no more was there Luthor-Braniac, only Luthor.

He felt almost weightless, a feeling he had only felt once before but would never forget.

The rest of the league were on their feet now, all looking at him with fear.

“I feel kind of funny,” he said, looking down at his hands. And then everything was white.

It was beautiful, beautiful in the way words couldn't even describe. It was pure, and Wally loved it.

“Flash!” He heard Shayera’s voice call out distantly.

“Shayera? It’s so beautiful here,” Wally said, a drowsy feeling taking over him as he feet pelted the ground of the endless expanse, “There’s a force, a Speedforce. It’s calling me home. I have to go now.”

Home? What is home?

Linda? Jai? Irey? 

“No Wally! Take my hand!” A voice shouted, but it sounded like it was drowning. A few other voices joined the woman. Wally didn’t take her hand. Why would he take her hand? He didn’t know her.

He thought of home.

Home. The Titans. Garth. Donna. Roy. Lilith. Dick... “Too slow pixie boots!”

‘Wallace, you know as well as I do that that’s not your home.’

Barry. Iris. Bart. Jay. Joan... Linda... Linda and her soft brown eyes and sharp wit. The twins... the twins!

No, Jinx... she was trying to be good, for him, Jinx and Artemis... Artemis and Linda... 

‘Think deeper Wallace, remember who you are.’

Barry. Iris. Bart. The team. M’gann. Kaldur. Conner. Artemis. Dick — “If you’re going, I’m going!” — ... Home, I’m going home.

‘Yes you are Wallace. Now run, Wally, run.’

And so he ran home.

—

UNKNOWN ENERGY IMPULSE DETECTED. LOCATION, ARCTIC CIRCLE.

Dick frowned as the monitors on the Watchtower lit up. It had been a difficult month to say the least, with Brion’s fall from glory and all the changes to the League’s roster and the Team. Dick found himself taking a page from Tim’s book and running on more coffee than sleep.

Dick wondered if it was aliens, he really hoped it wasn’t aliens.

“I’m guessing we’re going to have to check that out?” Dick asked, trying not to let the tiredness show in his voice.

“Could be nothing,” Jeff mused, staring at the monitors, “Or it could be something real bad with the way our luck is.”

The man had taken his new role in the league in stride, and Dick was happy for him. It’s no secret, at least to Dick, that Kaldur wasn’t a tiny bit glad for his newfound freedom. Dick paused to wonder if his friend had actually taken any time unselfishly for himself in the past three, hell even in the past seven years since the original team had first formed.

“Should we assemble a squad to check it out?” Dick asked, letting his thoughts go back to the task at hand.

“This is an unknown variable we’re dealing with, I’d rather have more experienced members of the team along with members of the Justice League. Lead a squad and take Blue Beetle, Miss Martian, Superboy, Aquaman, Tigress and Rocket.”

“Sir yes sir,” Dick said jokingly, “You know this whole leader thing looks really good on you. It really brings out your eyes.”

“Dick.”

“Yeah okay, I’ll call them in.”

—

“No you’re not allowed to vaporize Nightwing! Why would you even suggest that?” Jaime growled at whatever the scarab was saying. It had been a while since they had discovered that Jaime didn’t just hallucinate randomly but that the scarab on his back was sentient. And that it apparently harboured a grudge for Dick, who would’ve thought?

“Isn’t there a setting that can make that thing less murderous?” Conner asked with a small frown.

“No can do hermano, believe me I’ve tried,” Jaime said, leaning back in his seat in the bioship, “What are we even expecting jefe? This whole unknown impulse stuff doesn’t really give us much to go on, last time we had one of those we got a time traveller.”

“And as much as we love Bart,” Artemis interjected, “We have a lot of stuff on our plate already, especially since we’re losing two very valuable members soon,” she said, shooting a sharp but teasing look at Conner and M’gann.

“Artemis, our trip to mars will only be for a month at most,” M’gann said with a soft smile.

“Well we don’t know what to expect, hence the whole ‘unknown’ part, which is why when we get there we’ll get scarab to do readings on the energy sequence and see if it’s anything bad,” Dick said, steering the topic back to the mission.

“And if it is something bad?” Kaldur asked.

“We improvise,” Dick said with a lame shrug, “But this should just end as a recon mission.”

“Which means that something’s going to blow up, like always,” Raquel said from where she was sitting in the back, a mischievous grin making its way to her face.

“I would disagree but knowing our track record...” Conner trailed off as his eyes fixed on something, they were approaching their location but Dick had yet to see anything. Damn Supers and their supervision.

“What is it? Dick asked, all humour gone from his tone as he focused on the mission. 

“It’s like some kind of portal, it looks like a boom tube except for the fact that it’s white and seems a lot... shakier,” Connor said, for lack of a better world.

“We’re approaching our location, don’t engage unless something that proves to be hostile comes out,” Dick said, “Miss M establish a mind link. Blue, fly out and see what the scarab picks up.”

“Mind link established.”

“Sure thing jefe,” Jaime said, and then a latch opened on the bioship’s floor and he flew out.

“Hey isn’t this where...” Raquel trailed off with a glance at Artemis before shaking her head. They all knew what she was about to say, this was where Wally had died.

“Guys, you have to come see this,” Jaime said, somehow managing to sound breathless through the link.

“We’ll be there in a few seconds Blue, hold your position,” Dick said. M’gann brought the bioship down to hover near their location, and with a nod to the rest of the team they slipped through a hatch that opened.

Now that Dick could see said portal he could see what Conner was saying. It didn’t look stable at all.

“Scarab says it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen before, some unknown element, wait not element, force, but it’s picking up signs of life from the other side,” Jaime told them as he landed next to them.

“I can feel it too, their mind it’s faint but it almost feels like...” M’gann cuts herself off with a loud gasp.

“It’s Wally,” she whispered in disbelief, her eyes wide. If Dick’s heart wasn’t already going a mile a minute it would’ve started now.

“M’gann,  _ don’t _ ,” Artemis said, her face was hard and the only thing betraying any emotion was the hoarseness of her voice.

“Please Artemis, you have to believe me, I’ve been inside his mind too many times to not be able to recognize him,” M’gann pleaded, her eyes desperate.

“Scarab is saying that the life force is showing the same carbon footprint as Wally West,” Jaime added, shocked at the revelation as well.

It felt like a wave washed over his mind at the sound of her words. He didn’t see or hear how the others reacted.

Wally. It was Wally. 

Raquel’s steady hand on his shoulder dragged him back to shore and Dick took a deep breath. Dick gave her a grateful look.

“If it really is Wally and this is some kind of portal, how do we get him out?” Dick asked after he took a deep breath.

“I don’t-“ Jaime was interrupted by a sudden gust of energy, and suddenly something red came streaking out of the portal, leaving a flurry of snow in its wake.

“We need to alert the Watchtower,” Kaldur said, ever the leader. Dick silently thanked him for taking control because he was so out of it.

“And we need to catch whatever... whoever that was,” Artemis added, her tone was lace with disbelief.

Dick nodded, swallowed down the shakiness in his voice before saying, “Back to the bioship it is.”

—

“He’s fast,” Dick said as he stared at the readings of the satellite. The energy that the portal had given off was what helped them track the person (Dick couldn’t allow himself to hope, he wasn’t going down that rabbit hole again) but  _ both _ Bart and Barry were too slow to catch them. Dick didn’t doubt M’gann or Jaime but it added to his suspicions. Wally could never go the speed this person was going at.

“Satellite imaging isn’t giving us much to go on, he’s appearing as a blur even on our most high end cameras,” Tim said as he drew up some photos. Dick couldn’t even make out the image of a person, all he could see was lightning, pure white lightning. Wally’s lightning was yellowish-orange.

“The Atom is working on a device to stop him, these energy readings are actually vibrational frequencies that he’s giving off, and one pulse should put him out of commission long enough for us to get him to slow down,” Tim explained, eyes wide behind his domino as he followed the path of Bart and Barry on the screens.

“That’s great Tim,” Dick murmured. He didn’t know why he felt so tired. He didn’t know why it was so hard for him to believe that this was Wally. He would give anything to have his best friend back, but to have that hope dangling in front of him only to be taken away… he couldn’t put himself through that.

All of a sudden the dots that were marking Bart and Barry stopped, a point on the map that was very familiar to Dick. 

Mount Justice, or at least what remained of it. Another mistake on DIck’s very long list of them.

The leaguers probably knew what was going on, as they were all on standby on the ground, but Dick couldn’t fathom why Bart and Barry had stopped unless... the unknown speedster had stopped too.

_ Wally _ , his brain supplied treacherously.

“Getting kind of antsy up here,” Tim said, voicing Dick’s own thoughts. He wished he was down there, but he didn’t know if he would be able to handle having his hopes crushed all over again.

RECOGNIZED: FLASH - 04

RECOGNIZED: KID FLASH - B23

RECOGNIZED: KID FLASH - B03

Dick felt his stomach drop, he could hear the footsteps of members of the team and league who had retreated to other rooms pounding as the zeta technology announced the heroes, but he didn’t move.

There, in the zeta tube tunnel, was Wally West. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be honest this fic was kind of a means to an end. i am most definitely not proud of my writing in it and disappointed that it took me so long to upload the last part but here we are.
> 
> this story was more or less a prequel to the main story that i was working on, an idea that wouldn't make sense unless i had given a little bit of a background. 
> 
> hope you all enjoyed this and please feel free to leave constructive criticism.


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